be inspected. limited bus service in the city resumed. amtrak plans to offer some northeast service today. definitely a logistical nightmare here in the northeast. subways up and running, free of charge, which is good. a slow start. yeah. crews in lower manhattan are working throughout the night to restore power to the 750,000 people there who are still in the dark. officials with the local utility con edison says sandy is the worst storm they have ever seen. power is not expected to be back before the weekend. also, in lower manhattan, a major hospital is empty after its backup generator failed. hundreds of patients at nyu medical center had to be evacuated after the facility was plunged into darkness. abc s brandy hit is joining us from outside the hospital with more on the amazing rescue operation. reporter: good morning, rob. good morning, paula. talk about a delicate situation that tugs at your heart when you see this video. it was 24 hours ago here that
picking up stranded families. do you want to come out? what? reporter: the boats bringing people to where they could be trucked to safety. whole families, huddling together in the backs of trucks. the entire first floor gone. we were able to go up on the second floor, which was us. the water is almost gone. we have a baby. baby, baby. reporter: the frantic rescue operation began after sandy s storm surge swamped new jersey. it happened so fast. within 15 minutes we had ten feet of water. reporter: stunned residents like vincent grabbed whatever they could as the waters rose. there s nothing there no more. nothing. you can t salvage anything. reporter: new jersey took the brunt of sandy s wrath, the coast especially hit hard. these images from the town of seaside heights. neighborhoods consumed by sand and water.
reporter: the boats bringing people to where they could be trucked to safety. come on, mommy. reporter: whole families huddling together in the backs of trucks. the entire first floor gone. we were able to go up on the second floor, which was us. the water is almost gone. we have a baby and an elderly person. the baby. the baby is in here. reporter: the frantic rescue operation began after sandy s storm surge swamped new jersey. it happened so fast. within 15 minutes we had ten feet of water. reporter: stunned residents like vincent grabbed whatever they could as the waters rose. heartbreaking, heartbreaking. then you look. there s nothing there no more. nothing. you can t salvage anything. reporter: new jersey took the brunt of sandy s wrath, the coast especially hit hard. these images from the town of seaside heights. neighborhoods consumed by sand and water. down the shore, look at this. the community of seabright before sandy.
have been shut off to avoid a danger of fire. new york s mayor actually says given everything else, he quote, feels very good about the crane s situation. i know that neighborhood. people were out there yesterday taking pictures next to it. it s become like a tourist destination, in a weird way the last couple days. very weird way. one of the heart-wrenching images from our storm coverage was the tiny babies being evacuated from a new york hospital after the power failed. now we are learning amazing new details how that rescue operation went down. abc s brandi hitt joining us from outside new york hospital. hi, brandi. hi, paula. hi, rob. good morning to you. yes. talk about a delicate situation here. 24 hours ago the power went out in lower manhattan. that included new york university medical center where the power is still out right now, and those backup generators failed. and now we re starting to hear the heroic efforts made by doctors and nurses. they really had to put their